Hot Dog
by silversurf4
Summary: Sequel to Sashimi - picks up after the birth of Samuel Ethan Crews.  Will going back to his past bring Charlie relief or more pain?  Assumes an established relationship AU in the future between Crews & Reese.  Reed Sashimi for background.
1. Chapter 1

**HOT DOG – Chapter 1**

_Setting: A year and a half after the events in Sashimi…._

"Where are the _(god damned)_ car keys?" Dani complained loudly, but clinched her teeth and cursed under her breath for the benefit of her son who could not yet understand curses but for whom she did not want to be the person responsible if his first word was "fuck."

She was throwing things around the table in the foyer, seeking the errant keys with no luck. She found pacifiers, rings of plastic keys for Sam to chew on, a dog leash, a half a pack of chewing gum and a half dozen different fruits, only half of which she could identify, in a wicker bowl. Some things about Crews did not change, his fascination with all things fruit being one of them. Every thing, except the damned car keys, she thought.

Crews' long shadow appeared ahead of his tall form in a dark suit. He clasped the keys in his right hand and jingled them for her. "They are right here in my hands – where they are going to stay all day," he challenged.

They'd reach these points occasionally where Dani would insist on controlling things and at first he'd given in to her, but more and more now he was digging in his heels and not letting her have total command and control. He ceded ground on most fronts and they rarely disagreed fully, but Charlie Crews was every bit as stubborn as his wife and no one knew it better than her.

She scowled and wheeled to collect other things, baby things. There were a million things they had to get ready before they could leave the house for the christening of Samuel Ethan Crews and she was a wreck. Crews on the other hand had been dressed and ready to go for an hour. He patiently walked the dog and waited for her to ready herself and their son.

"Honey?" he called after her, using a term that she both loved and loathed for different reasons. She turned and gave him a dark look. "I love you, but the only thing you're driving today is that stroller," he pointed at a navy blue pram with all the bells and whistles. She growled and stormed off.

Crews' as always was implacable. He picked up his fussy son and talked to the baby, "Yes, Mommy seems very mad today, but she's not – she's just nervous. She's not mad at us." When Dani got in a temper, both Max and Sam got quiet and Max was stuck to Charlie like glue. "Hey," he spoke sharply to the dog, "don't get dog hair all over my suit."

Dani poked her head in and examined them, her family. The tall red haired man immaculately dressed, holding the younger version of himself who was dressed in a tiny blue seersucker suit and the black & white dog watching them both. Sam was born with dark hair and smoky blue eyes, but that hair quickly gave way to a pale blonde tending toward red. She had a feeling his hair would mirror his father's brassy color in time. The blue eyes though had stayed and just gotten brighter, more clear and piercing by the day.

He was a lovely boy of just under a year who at this point and could do little more than smile and jabber, but he did so very much look like his father. He dazzled everyone with his fair hair and blue eyes; none more than his mother. Dani loved everything about him, even the 2AM feedings.

Initially, a yawning, bleary-eyed Charlie had offered to help, to get up with her, to sit with the baby and rock him so she could go back to sleep, but she brushed him off and kissed him back to sleep. Eventually, he stopped asking and just accepted her answer would always be a firm, but gentle 'no'. He'd fall back to sleep in minutes with the faint hint of a smile on his fair features. Sam looked just like him even then – sleeping with a hint of a smile on his tiny face.

It became a thing with her, 2AM in the stillness of the night; it was her time alone with Sam. Some nights he would suckle hungrily and stare at her so intently she was certain he could see right into the darkest recesses of her mind and corners of her soul. She'd let Max come because he would lay at her feet, quiet and still, but that time alone was precious to her. Not because she didn't want Charlie there – but because she relished the silence and the connection with the life they'd made together. She could never quite put it into words, but she recognized the profundity of it nonetheless.

Charlie spent his own time alone with his son. Sometimes he'd vanish into the vastness of the big quiet house and when she looked for him, she'd find him reading, singing or talking to the baby. He was such a gentle, quiet man that sometimes she'd find it hard to imagine him in prison or the violence he could summon when properly motivated. Sam was also a very happy boy, smiling often and laughing riotously at some silliness or face Charlie made for him.

They were happy, Dani wondered if it would last or if it would all coming crashing down. Sometimes she wondered out loud, but Charlie abjectly refused to discuss it or the potential for it. That horror he'd already experienced once, having his life snatched away and while he feared it – he wouldn't let it intrude on their happiness – on their "now." His intransigence on the issue was absolute and he was a very stubborn man.

There had been anger and recriminations when her father learned of her decision of exclude him from Sam's life. It was lessened by a heart wrenching afternoon when Dani shared her desire to have Jack Reese as far from her son as possible and her demand that if her mother could not abide by Dani's wishes then she too would not be a part of Sam's life. Dani's mother tearfully admitted Jack's judgment of and treatment toward his daughter always hurt her and she begged to be part of young Sam's life. Charlie and Dani accepted that Roya would be there and she had been almost every day since he was born.

Jack Reese and Charles Crews Sr. robustly and roundly refused to accept that their past conduct made them unsuitable for admission into Sam's life - in the Dani and Charlie's assessment; until Charlie made it abundantly clear to both of them that they were not welcome in his house. She never asked how he got this point across, but she was certain there was a fair amount of threatening involved. Dani didn't speak with her father anymore and while it was accepted he knew about Sam through Roya – Jack stayed away. Charlie saw to that; warning the old man with a gleam in his eye that signaled he'd enjoy sharing some of the lessons he'd learned inside Pelican Bay with the white haired old man. And whatever Charlie had said to his own father, stayed between the two of them, but Charles Crews Sr. stopped writing and calling, he simply vanished – as if he had never been. Charlie never spoke of it and she'd never inquired.

* * *

><p>They finally did make it to the christening, which was a small and private event. Charlie drove the car, but ended up carrying an assortment of bags to the church, while Dani pushed the stroller. Traditionally, children wore dresses for christenings, but there was nothing traditional about the Crews family. When the priest anointed Sam with holy water, while announcing his name to the world, the boy giggled at the rustling of his small suit. Both his parents grinned. Roya snapped several photos and they left as quickly as they'd come. Neither Charlie nor Dani were particularly religious, but it was something Charlie said his mother would have liked so they did it to honor her.<p>

Later that evening, Roya showed the pictures of their grandson to Jack on the computer, while he nursed his fifth scotch. "He doesn't look anything like her," he groused. "If anything he looks like Crews," he commented darkly.

"Just as he should. A boy should take after his father Jack," Roya pointedly argued. "Despite your misgivings, he is a fine young man and a good father."

Jack just grumbled in the background before stalking off. Being written out of his daughter's live hurt him more than he'd let on, but not enough so that he'd apologize or change his ways.

Roya alone had the opportunity to observe the Crews family as it developed. For all their earlier troubles separately; together they were an average, normal couple with ups and downs. Charlie was patient, but there was a limit to that patience, which Dani was quick to reach, beyond that he stiffened when pushed too far and she backed off instinctively. They'd learned each other's habits, natures and pitfalls, first as partners and then as mates. Their marriage was a logical continuation of their partnering and it did not change one single thing about the way they interacted. One day, she was Dani Reese and the next she was Dani Crews in a small ceremony officiated by a Justice of the Peace and two random witnesses.

Charlie swore one day they'd do it over, big and ostentatious and he'd whisk her away to a honeymoon somewhere exotic on a beach, but she'd simply rolled her eyes and asked him to please take her home – no stops. He happily complied, but reserved the right to carry her away someday when there wasn't a baby boy to see about.

Dani's mercurial nature had been tempered by both maturity and her choice in mates. With the addition of a child, the lessons she'd learned in hard fought battles over the past five years came together for her and she became who she was capable of being. She was a brilliant young woman, resilient and determined, but no longer driven by anger and resentment. The change in her showed; Dani had finally reached a point where she was content and her mother could see the child she'd once been in her again. Crews had kept his promise.

Roya even dared to hope there would be more grandchildren on the horizon, but for now it was just them; an attractive tight knit couple, an energetic, young dog and a happy, chubby baby boy. She proudly changed the computer's desktop background and picture of a smiling, drooling Sam with a chubby fist in his mouth and emailed photos to their extended family. In all them, even Dani was smiling broadly.

* * *

><p>Jack retreated to the garage and into his head – to the day when all this became a freight train out of control. He poured two fingers of his hidden whisky, stared into the darkness and travelled into the past. <em>Stay away from my family,<em> Crews had glowered. He could still feel the heat of the younger man's body near him and feel the hot breath tickle his face. Crews was so confident, so brash, so ebullient.

In the split second it took Jack to form his pithy retort, the young red haired man's flushed face and chagrinned expression told Jack Reese that he'd just learned something he wasn't supposed to know. Since it was common knowledge that Dani was sleeping with Crews there could only be one other thing the younger man meant; that was a child. Jack's query was superfluous, but he asked it anyway. Crews' averted eyes told him the truth. It wasn't that long since he'd talked to a guilty man.

Crews' crime was now a desktop background on Jack's home computer. Later, he'd examine the photos carefully and notice each detail of his grandson. Every single time he looked at that little boy, a carbon copy of his father, Jack knew Crews was right. This was never about him – just like Crews said. Dani loved the man. Evidence of their love grinned at him from a 22" computer screen drooling. Their son was happy, healthy and would never know his grandfather.

Jack lashed out at a random object on his workbench and slung it onto the floor. It didn't matter what it was. It broke with a crash, a good sound but it did not fill the hollowness he felt. Dani was gone from his life now, as was his grandson. It was his fault, Dani had done what he knew she would eventually, she'd fled - him and his hatefulness. First she rebelled, but her love held her. She was locked in a deadly spiral of love for her father and self-loathing. It was slowly destroying the young woman.

Then her deliverer arrived; in the most unlikely of forms - a broken, fruit addled, Zen spouting ex-convict that some people, most people considered crazy. Crews delivered her from her personal torture in a very simple manner. He hadn't done anything remotely heroic. No dragons were slain, not even his money did the trick. No, what Crews offered was trust, confidence, respect and the love her father denied her. She'd fallen hard for the tall, lanky red head and he for her – his damaged dark angel.

Jack replayed that day in his mind a hundred times. He stormed off before Crews looked up, disappearing into a throng of people in the open-air market. He drove in circles fuming and waiting for Roya's call. When she called, she was happy, it was in her voice after her meeting with Dani – she knew. Dani told her, but not him; Dani wouldn't share her happiness with him. He knew why. He'd belittle it, poke fun at it; he'd revel in his meanness and watch the hurt bloom behind his daughter's eyes. The question was… would Roya keep this secret from him?

He waited and amazingly Roya climbed into the car, smiled, kissed him and said absolutely nothing. They drove home in silence for twenty minutes, before they got stuck in traffic and he just couldn't stand it anymore. "I followed him," he spat. "I followed Crews."

"Why?" she asked testily.

"I wanted to know what he was up to with Dani?" he growled.

"He loves her," Roya replied clearly annoyed.

"Did you know?" he challenged.

"Anyone who looks at them knows," she shot back, "they are in love." She answered him, but didn't answer the question he didn't ask. Their repartee was every bit as fiery as one between Charlie and Dani would have been. She had accepted his treatment of her because she was raised to accept it, but that didn't mean she liked it, it didn't mean she enjoyed it. Knowing this, his spitefulness and manner nearly cost her – her relationship with Dani - made her angry beyond reason. She contained her ire, but barely.

"She's pregnant! Dani's pregnant. Did you know that?" he snapped.

"Oh?" she deflected trying to sound surprised. The lie worked as he launched into a recitation of his exchange with Crews and his revelation. She waited patiently until he wound down and glared at her for a response, "So, Charlie did not actually say that Dani is with child. You assume this because he wishes to protect Dani from you?" she pointed out the flaw in his assumption.

"So you're telling me she said nothing to you?" he turned in his seat to confront her.

"She said a great many things to me," his wife deflected.

"Roya," he growled.

"Jack," she countered with just as much grit and gravitas. They stared at each other for a long moment, then her gaze shifted and she chose to address him. "You have done this to our family. You who wanted a son and were not happy with the child God saw fit to give you. You, Jack – your criticism and meanness have done this. I have been a good wife to you, but you ask me to choose between those I love. I will not!"

Traffic picked that moment to clear and a car horn sounded the end of their argument. He put the car in gear and the rest of the ride occurred in a silence more appropriate for a graveyard. She barely waited for the car to stop rolling before she leapt out and slammed the door to their bedroom.

He fumed and raged and drank. Hours flew by and his rage did not diminish. Finally, with confidence fueled by whiskey and hate, he called his daughter's cell phone. She did not answer. He called four more times. Finally, the line connected but the voice that came to him was not hers.

"Leave her alone, Jack," Crews stated flatly. "Leave us alone," he said coolly. The line clicked dead and Jack Reese knew that he'd never again speak to his daughter, but never is a very long time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hot Dog - Chapter 2**

_Present Day….._

"Hey, I'm taking the mutt for a run," Charlie announced as Max trotted around the kitchen with his leash in his mouth playing 'keep away' from his master. "Gimme that," Charlie tugged playfully with the dog.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the…" Dani walked into the kitchen folding a tiny t-shirt on her chest. Their eyes simultaneously searched for Sam who unbeknownst to either of his parents was experimenting with standing for the first time.

Max's attention was suddenly focused on the boy. Sam's brows were furrowed in furious concentration as he strained to stand. He wobbled briefly and then was absolutely and utterly still for a moment. Dani and Charlie both held their breath. Sam sensing he'd done something noteworthy, clapped for himself and promptly fell hard on his diaper, but rather that cry he laughed and clapped again.

"He stood," Charlie said reverently, as though no child had achieved that milestone before.

"And he was quite proud of himself," she grinned at their son's cheekiness. "He gets that from you." Then as the boy began his struggle anew, Dani whispered, "get the camera."

Before Dani and Sam, Charlie hadn't own a camera beyond the one built into his phone. He now owned a very complex one that seemed to take great pictures with very little input from him. He raced up the stairs to snag it, returning breathless just as the boy struggled to his feet once again.

Once there, Sam quite proud of himself and certain he was being watched proclaimed, "Mommy, look." His first words came coupled to his stance, sure and strong.

"Hold still, honey," Dani told him absently using Charlie's favorite affectation. "Look at Daddy," she coached. Sam did as he was told and then giggled, "Daddy," happily before plunking down on his bottom again.

Charlie had fired half-dozen snapshots in the intervening time, but raised his face from behind the lens to wonder aloud, "did he just say Daddy?"

Dani's arms were wrapped around herself as though she was hurt, but he could tell she was simply trying to contain the amount of joy and mirth her small frame contained. She laughed, "Yes, he said Daddy."

Sam looked up intuited that the word 'Daddy' made his mother pleased, clapped giggled and said "daddy" again proudly.

"Do you think he know who his Daddy is?" Charlie joked with her, grinning broadly, "Or you think he just know Mommy likes the word?"

In answer, Sam said, "Daddy" again and clapped.

Dani scooped him up in her arms, telling them both, "Oh, he knows," she spun her son around and Charlie thought he might die of happiness. She kissed her son and he laughed. Sam looked dizzy and in love, as he giggled "mommy."

"See," she smiled into those blue eyes she knew so well, "he knows."

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Sam was in bed, Charlie had shown and shared the photos of the momentous occasion with Ted, Bobby, Roya and two of Dani's friends from the gym, when he revisited the reason they'd left LAPD to begin with.<p>

"Do you ever think about what we set out to do when we left the Department?" he looked down at the woman in his arms who was staring into the distant LA skyline out the front of their dark and quiet bay window.

"Hmmm," she murmured. He jostled her prompting a proper answer.

The animated talkative fellow she married had become quiet, pensive and true, instead of the personality of false brightness he'd initially projected to everyone – including her. He spoke softly to her and their son. His actions and motions were fluid, like the tai chi he practiced each morning. He was graceful and elegant like a ballroom dancer, light on his feet, but she never forgot that he could kill without compunction. It was not a knife-edge he kept honed.

"I have considered that Sam put everything else in our live in another column," she offered. "It's not that what happened to you is unimportant; it's just that its..."

"In the past?" he finished.

"Yeah," she twisted in his arms to look at him. "And you know I don't mean anything even remotely Zen by that," her grin was wry.

"I know you don't," he chuckled, "in fact I know you try to avoid even the simplest Zen reference, but that just makes it more profound when you do it."

"If you want to go back there, if you need to," she proposed, "we can."

"You don't have to," he said excusing her from engaging. "But I'd like to know."

"Hey," she barked softly, "you don't go anywhere with out me, Crews." Her demand hearkened back to the Dani of old. She hadn't lost her senior partner command voice, in fact being a mom only reinforced it. She shook his arm to ensure he was paying attention to her. His height often allowed him to muse - looking into the distance a foot over her head, but she always managed to bring him back to her – her dark eyes. They glistened with intensity and sparkled like gems. He wanted their little girls to look like her with those eyes and her small precise features.

Sam didn't just take after him; the boy was a carbon copy of him. They shared the same features, coloring and attitude. Dani joked Sam wouldn't have terrible twos; he'd giggle his way right through them. The boy embodied joy. He had a bubbly personality that made even the dourest person smile.

But at times, Charlie glimpsed Dani in his son, her intensity, her determination and her intelligence. Today's effort at standing was all Dani, fierce determination and focus. That's what Charlie saw when he looked at their son.

Sam was a new chapter in both their lives and to go back would risk both him and Dani. Charlie wasn't sure he wanted to risk it, but the desire to know tickled in the back of his brain and he knew it always would. He needed to know why.

"Let's look into it," he asked, "just background...follow-up on the stuff Seever gave us maybe?"

She nodded and just like that – like a switch was flipped they were back in Detective mode. He could almost feel the change in her, posture, attitude, tension in the body as she steeled herself to combat what they both feared. He hoped he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life.

* * *

><p>They were sitting in bed going over some old information Seever dug up, back before Sam interrupted their private investigation. It didn't take them long to ramp back up and despite the fact that Charlie had succumbed to the luxury of reading glasses not much else changed about their interaction as detectives. They still felt the free exchange of ideas and finished one another's thoughts and sentences.<p>

"Sampson and Reedy were both SWAT senior leaders," she read.

"Most likely trained with or your dad," he commented. Her brows showed interest, her eyes a flicker of a memory hidden in shadow. "Remember them?"

"I don't…not really…maybe," she ran her hand through her hair. "It was a long time ago," she was hesitant as a glimmer of something tickled at the back of her brain. "Sorry, could you check on him? He's been down an hour and he's usually not asleep this fast," she mused still reading.

Charlie dutifully climbed from their bed and padded down the hallway to check on their son. He was fast asleep, crunched up in a little hump with his legs under him and his butt in the air, sucking on his thumb. Charlie removed the boy's thumb, rolled him onto his side and patted Max on the head before returning to the master bedroom. "It would seem that all that standing has worn the boy out," he chuckled.

"Did you?" she began.

"Yes, I did," he answered her unspoken question. "Took his thumb out of his mouth, turned him on his side and tucked him in," he announced climbing back under the covers with her. "Now, why don't you say we leave this for tomorrow and enjoy our early evening?" he enticed.

"I don't know how you do it," she shook her head and began cleaning up paperwork.

"Know what you're thinking?" he surmised. "I know you honey. It's just that simple. I know you," he kissed her head and switched off his light.

* * *

><p><em>Several weeks later...<em>

Sam was growing up quickly. Within months he was walking on unsteady legs and using Max as a guide dog. The frantic little dog sensed his small friend's instability and became a rock for the little boy. Charlie and Dani worried, but the two were inseparable; Max slept under Sam's crib and whined when the boy was taken on trips that he could not go.

Days when they all went to the park were best. Sam giggled as the wind from Max's open window ruffled his hair. The dog would alternate between sticking his head out the open window and licking the boy's face when he shrieked in delight. Dani could not wait to get them out of the car and into the stroller if only to stop the noises the two would make together.

Additionally, when Sam began to talk he did so, immediately, almost overnight. All the reading Charlie did with him gave the boy an incredible vocabulary, but he didn't always know what the words meant creating some humorous situations. For instance, while he knew Max was a dog; Sam also thought Max was a "hot dog," which might have been a compliment for Max if he understood the meaning of the word "hot." This was discovered much to his mother's amusement during his bath one night.

During bath time, Max was locked out of the bathroom, because the boy and the dog together could wreck a bathroom with their respective splashing, barking and giggling. More than once, Charlie had let Max in the room and hilarity and chaos ensued, but it created one hell of a mess. Dani was bathing a quiet little boy, when Sam suddenly demanded a "hot dog" and slapped the water with his chubby little hand.

Dani thinking he was hungry, told him they'd already had dinner and it was too late for hot dogs. Again Sam slapped the water and demanded "hot dog, Mommy" with an intensity that reminded her of herself. He peered at her and his little glare was impressive. She gently told him no. "Want Max," he announced.

"Is Max a hot dog?" Dani inquired. Sam nodded eagerly.

"Huh, won't all the girl dogs be impressed?" her joke well over her son's head.

"Hot dog," Sam shouted as loud as his little voice could manage.

"Samuel Ethan Crews," she chided, "that is enough."

Max scratched and whined at the door. "Want Max," Sam pronounced and began pouting. Max barked in agreement.

"Should I let him in?" Charlie joked through the door.

"Don't you dare?" Dani threatened. "I'm just about finished and you let that dog in here and they'll destroy this bathroom and Sam won't want to go to sleep," she reasoned.

"But they have so much fun," Charlie countered cracking the door. Both Charlie's face and Max's appeared in the crack. Max struggled and whined trying to get to his boy.

Sam clapped happily, then he looked directly at Dani and pronounced in a very satisfied tone, "hot dog, Mommy." Dani gave up. She leaned back and Charlie opened the door. Max ran to the edge of the tub, put two paws over the edge and gave Sam a good lick. Sam commenced splashing and Max snapped at the flying water and barked incessantly.

Dani covered her ears and shouted at her husband, "You get in here right now and deal with him."

Charlie grinned and sat on the bathtub edge to see that nothing got out of hand. He worried a bit that Max might get excited and accidentally bite one of Sam's fingers, but he never did. Water flew and Charlie laughed loudly.

Dani gave up any pretense of order and sat on the counter and watched her family play. She grinned after a moment and began laughing in earnest.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hot Dog – Chapter 3**

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

It was a familiar question from their old days. But these weren't their old days; this was his new life. The life he'd made after the fire took everything; the one where he had a wife, in addition to a partner and a young son and Max who lest he forgot licked his hand. He reached down and stroked the dog's head. Everyone it seemed could sense his uneasiness.

"I'm thinking…that I don't think we should go back there," he shared his concern about their foray into his past. "I'm thinking…"

"If you don't go back and resolve this, part of you will always be there," she interrupted again sounding more Zen than she meant to. "And I need you here with me, all of you Charlie. Let's do this and really move on," she urged.

He reached for her and found her hand in his. It was his familiar haunt, the stone patio overlooking the city. It was where he went to meditate, to think, to be alone and whenver the house got too quiet she knew where to find him.

"Over your little crisis of faith?" she wondered.

"Uh-huh," he nodded responding absently. He was still somewhere else.

"Liar," she called him on it forcing him to reconnect.

He looked down into the dark eyes, those eyes that shone with so much intensity it sometimes hurt to look at her. Max whined slightly and pranced anxiously. "Even the dog feels it," he noted.

"Yep," she agreed quietly. She paused and he knew she was gathering her thoughts and considering her words. His wife had a reputation for being a hothead when he met her. She had a tongue like a buggy whip and wasn't afraid to use it, but Dani Reese was far more thoughtful and reserved than people gave her credit for.

The angry young woman he'd met five years ago was still there sometimes – rarely anymore, but she still possessed that fire. Anger was an easy outlet for her when they'd first met. Her sharp mind and quick wit made snappy retorts easy. It also made it seem as though she lashed out at everyone, but she didn't. It had taken him a couple years to learn that; it wasn't really who she was. Dani was measured, intelligent and cautious – just like him.

"I wanna say something," she offered.

"I know," he accepted, "but you're not sure."

"Can anyone be sure of anything? Can you be sure of where this will lead? Do you know?"

He shook his head in the negative, but remained mute.

"If you knew, would you stop? Could you?"

Again his head swung side to side, this time with a grim smile.

"Then stop worrying about me and Sam and let's do this," she told him exactly where she stood. She was right beside him just as she'd always been; just as she always would be.

"There's a Zen saying," he began and her answering sigh was perfunctory, so he continued just as she knew he would. "Three things can not be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth."

She smiled up at him in the early evening light.

"That's incomplete though," he prepared to pay her a compliment that told her how much her support meant. Her quizzical look was something he loved so he held onto his comment to prolong it. "There are three things that cannot be replaced: your love, your trust and our family."

"Do you think any of those in danger?" she wondered.

"No," he replied with a voice full of emotion he could not fully express. "I just don't understand how I ever earned any of them." He turned and caressed her face. "I'm not sure you'll ever understand how much I love you and Sam," he tried anyway.

"Let's go upstairs and you can show me," she demurred. Dani always let him off easy when it came to the hard conversations. She wasn't comfortable with talks that hinged on the depth of their bond. She deferred to humor and physical affection, but she felt as deeply as he and he knew it.

"The kid asleep?" he murmured against her ear. She nodded as the whisper became a kiss. "Then stay here with me and let me kiss you until the moon rises," he claimed her lips in a series of open-mouthed kisses. Each time he retreated she followed.

His hands roamed over her body in achingly familiar places.

She wanted less clothes and more Crews, but he was slow, patient and her eagerness was tempered by his pace and control. He set her on fire and he knew he could, but he still took his time. He spent so much time and energy evoking her responses that he could often kiss her into orgasm. And while she reveled in the time and attention lavished on her, he was slowly driving her mad.

After he thwarted her third attempt to remove his shirt, she pushed away breathless and wet, "there's the damned moon, Charlie. Now let's go upstairs," she was a hair's breath from angry at him. He chuckled, knowing her ire was a function of his control and how he made her feel. She both loved and loathed the things he could do to her. Right now she wanted him so badly they could both feel it.

"All right, but I have to warn you," he smiled. "I won't last very long if you take those clothes off."

She dragged him by the hand to the kitchen door. She opened the door and Max shot into the house and up the stairs to Sam's room. The sound of his nails on the marble retreated leaving them in silence. She quickly switched off the kitchen light plunging them into darkness.

Just inside the door she stopped and began to chastise him. "Haven't I told you not to do that to me?" she pushed him against the wall. "Haven't I?" She unbuttoned her shirt and removed her bra. She was naked and glorious in the pale moonlight through the window.

"Dani, I…" he began.

"Shut up, Crews. Just shut up," she kissed him hard and just like that he lost all that precious control of his. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her. Her short nails were first in his hair and then up his back as she clawed the shirt right off him. He pressed her against the wall and his hand sunk deep into her pants. She was so hot, so wet and so ready. He undid his belt and trousers, pushing them to the floor and stepping clear of them, while she did likewise.

They met in a rush and he slammed them against the cold plaster of the wall. His hands dug into her ass as he lifted her to reach him. He felt her wrap her strong legs around his waist and rock against him. He could find his way to her sweet spot now blindfolded in the dark and upside down; they'd done this so much, he knew her so well. He was inside her in an instant and their collective moan of release would have embarrassed both of them less than three years ago, but now it was the sound of contentment.

"God I love you," he professed before locking her in a searing kiss. They fell into a familiar rhythm; one he knew by heart. The music was wordless and soundless, but it sang in his soul. When they broke for air, she was gasping his name into the hollow of his neck as her orgasm shuddered through her. "Charlie, oh god, I…" was all she could manage before his matching orgasm ripped through him and his seed spilled into her again.

Slowly he eased her back down to the ground, holding her until she was stable enough to stand. "What were you gonna say?" he said in a low husky tone still holding her close in the moonlight.

Her laugh was silent at first, he felt it more than heard it. Then she pulled her hair back and looked up at him. "We should use something," she grinned.

"I thought you were on…" he started.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm not," her laugh was audible now. "Remember you telling me not to?"

"Ooops," he chuckled against her throat. "Guess we'll have to do up another room. Can't have my little girl sharing a room with Sam," he supposed their future offspring.

"Your little girl?" Dani shot him an eyebrow in challenge.

"Or little girls? Twins would be nice – don't ya think?" He challenged back.

"Don't say that. Don't even think that. So help me god Charlie," she replied and began picking up clothes.

"Leave them," he pulled her by the arm. "Leave it all," he pulled her naked body to his. "I'll clean up in the morning. Come to bed with me," he urged. "I'm not finished yet," he wrapped his long arms around her from behind and began kissing her anew.

"I'm not nearly finished with you," he sunk his hands into her hair and kissed her until she was lightheaded. He pulled and she came willingly up the marble stairs of their huge house, hand in hand with the pale naked man she loved more than life itself.

"You fucking bastard,' she swore softly, but he know knew these vulgar protestations of hers were terms of endearment. "You're lucky I love you so god damned much Crews," she murmured in that low voice that sounded sexy without even trying. She surrendered to him, to them, to the idea that she powerless against his obvious intention to make love to her repeatedly that night.

"Believe me honey, I know,' he began his ministrations anew in the sanctity of their bedroom. He knew her so well and so entirely, but since Sam they hadn't had the time or luxury of the night he promised.

If she wasn't pregnant now, she would be by morning and part of her just didn't care anymore. The Dani Reese who once said "kids and her wasn't a such good idea" was still there, but she was a good parent. They were good together. She loved him that much – so much that she'd follow him headlong on any adventure from parenting to policing to private investigations – her partner. He drove her insane, but there wasn't a man anywhere on the planet she'd trade him for and he knew it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hot Dog Chapter 4**

It fell to Dani to meet with Detective Jane Seever about more background on Sampson and Reedy. Charlie was deliberately oblique about his whereabouts for the morning, a situation that while it displeased her, there was little she could do about. When he got like this, testy and vague, she'd learned there was only so far she could force him before the cold mountain of Zen descended blocking all paths. Fog obscured his blue eyes and cold pervaded his usually warm nature. It troubled her to no end, but years of effort had not changed the weather in those mountains.

So she bundled Sam in the car and left an anxious Max peering at them from the large floor to ceiling windows in the master bedroom as they drove way. She felt a small pang of guilt as Sam glumly waved "bye-bye Max" and pouted. She firmly told her son, while watching him in the rearview mirror that Max would be fine and they wouldn't be gone long. When she smiled at him promising they'd be home soon, Sam's two-toothed grin came back to her. His tiny blue eyes, so reminiscent of Charlie's twinkled in the long morning rays and he was soon gazing out the window as the world passed by like a television show.

Dani pulled to a stop in a parking lot near a large supermarket. She found a spot well away from the store, too far away for most people to bother parking when closer spots were plentiful. She backed in, donned her shades against the rising sun just cresting the buildings, turned up the air and waited. Charlie would have insisted on some Zen tape, but Sam sang along to the radio quietly. He didn't know the words, but it did not stop her son from enjoying the music and mimicking some of the sounds he heard.

She alternated between watching for Seever's unmarked and observing Sam in the rearview. He was content to sit in his car seat and sing to himself for the time being. As the sun rose, it hit the car lighting it in oranges and yellows, the bright light caused Sam to squint and demand "glasses Mommy." She refused but lowered the visor to protect his fair eyes and skin. As the sun caught her son's hair the bronze's she'd waited for appeared. Her mind whispered "Crews" as a dark Crown Victoria pulled along side them distracting her.

Jane Seever climbed from the car and rapped lightly on the passenger window, before opening the door and ducking inside. Dani examined the young woman who was immaculately dressed and coifed. Her suit was stylish, hair and nails perfect. She was a very attractive woman with an open engaging smile and a row of perfectly white straight teeth and smooth pale brown skin. Her peach lipstick and very light makeup were expertly chosen.

Seever introduced herself, "Hi, sorry I just realized we'd never actually met – in person. I feel like I know you – through Charlie," she explained. She shyly offered her hand and Dani shook it.

"I'm Jane," Seever said unnecessarily.

"Dani," she responded. "This is Sam," she gestured at her son. "Say, hi, honey," she directed. Sam chose this moment to shyly duck his head and peer at Seever from under his blonde lashes.

"Wow, he really looks…" Seever began.

"Like Crews," Dani finished. "Yes, I know," she softened her interruption with a tight smile. Both women were uncomfortable. Seever began to talk about what she'd discovered. Police work was something they both had in common and it as neutral territory. As she talked both women eased and Sam began to sing as the atmosphere relaxed.

Seever stopped abruptly and without turning to look asked, "does he do that a lot?"

"What?" Dani wondered. Sam's singing was a natural noise one she could tune out is she chose to. "Oh," she registered Seever's notice of her son, "the singing? Yeah, he gets that from his dad too." Both women laughed.

About twenty minutes of intense discussion passed and Sam quietly fell asleep, his head lolling against the side of his car seat, his tiny mouth open and soft pale lids hiding his father's blue eyes. As their conversation reached a logical end, Seever turned in her seat to examine the boy.

"He's beautiful," she remarked and her awe seemed genuine.

"He's a happy little boy," Dani reached back and righted his head. "Like his father."

"I've only seen Charlie unhappy once," Seever remarked.

Dani's brows knit together betraying her interest although she stubbornly refused to give voice to the question in her mind. She couldn't help that her internal thoughts wandered to just how well Seever had gotten to know Crews in their few short weeks of work together.

Seever supplied the answer to Dani's unasked question without prompting, "when Roman took you." Dani said nothing and looked at her lap. "Did he tell you I have a fifteen year plan?"

Dani smiled and nodded, "yes, he mentioned that."

"It doesn't include any of this," Seever gestured around them. Dani didn't know how to respond. She didn't know if Seever was getting cold feet about helping them or what precisely she meant when Jane suddenly explained herself with a question.

"Did you ever imagine yourself here? With him," she looked back at the sleeping baby. "In five years, ten years or fifteen?"

Dani snorted a short laugh. "No," she said plainly.

"Then how'd you end up here? If you don't mind me asking," Jane boldly ventured.

"You've met Crews right?" Dani joked. "He's an irresistible force of nature. One day I was a career track LAPD Detective, the next I was here."

"Do you miss it?" Jane continued her bold line of personal inquiry.

"I never left it," Dani explained. "Life with Crews is a series of unexplainable adventures and this is just one of them. The best thing I learned from being with him – he told me the day we met, " Dani paused and examined Seever hard. "And don't you dare tell him I said this," she warned.

Jane smiled and held up two fingers in a tiny oath pledged by girl scouts.

"You don't have to understand here to be here," Dani said.

Seever considered the comment, cocking her head and thinking about it hard.

"He never said that to you?" Dani wondered.

"No," Seever replied plainly.

"Never told you Zen sayings? Made you listen to those damned tapes?"

Seever shook her head no. Dani mused what that meant for a moment before Seever offered her own explanation, "I wasn't his partner."

Dani's head swung hard and she stared at the young woman beside her in disbelief. Shocked must have clearly registered on her face and Jane explained further.

"He was very clear in every way from the first time we met. He had only one partner and it was you," she said solemnly. "I've worked with a lot of guys and I've never had someone feel that way about me…the way he does and always did about you."

Dani's face flushed an embarrassed red from her neck and she felt the heat of it.

"Please don't be embarrassed," Jane urged, "and I'm sorry for asking such personal questions. It's just that…" her eyes strayed to the backseat and the softly snoring little boy there. "Lately I've been thinking there's more than a fifteen year plan, you know?"

Dani nodded mutely. Silence descended awkwardly and then Seever made her excuses and left careful not to wake Sam.

All the way home Dani watched her sleeping son; he who was so like his father. The little boy whose joy could not be contained; who sang in the car because his father sang to him, with him – he was the best of all of them.

She thought about the two red heads were her whole life now. Samuel Ethan Crews whom Charlie had absolutely forbidden her from naming after him. Crews, the man who awaited them both at home was both a partner and protector, a father and friend. He was certainly, not in any plan Dani had ever had made or envisioned, but life is what happens to us while we are busy making plans.

Dani carried her sleeping son upstairs and put him down in his crib. He would nap until lunch and then be a bundle of energy all afternoon. His door pulled closed with a slight snick and then a wet black nose pushed it open again. Dani sighed as Max licked her hand and circled thrice lying down under Sam's crib and releasing his own tenseness at their separation. Charlie wisely kept Max outside while Dani carried Sam to bed, but relented once the boy was down for his nap.

She descended the stairs in search of her husband and she found him seated on the brown leather sofa reading papers in his lap and spread across the coffee table before him. He regarded her carefully over the top of his reading glasses. He was more than a bit anxious about Dani meeting Seever, but he tried not to let it show.

Dani's soft smile made him relax and his mirroring smile was one of the types she loved – genuine, low wattage and laced with mischief. He wore it when things were good and nothing weighed on him.

"You didn't tell me she was so attractive," Dani teased without giving her ruse away.

His expression changed to one of wariness. Danger lurked in the dark eyes of his wife and he tried desperately to read her mood. He couldn't. "What do you mean?" he played dumb. It wasn't hard – he had no idea what his mercurial wife was thinking.

"I mean," she paused for effect, "she's pretty…maybe even beautiful. She dresses like a model; she's got natural poise and grace. Didn't you tell me she was an athlete too?"

"I…uh…yeah, she ran track or something," he reacted off balance. "You think she's pretty?" he wondered sincerely.

"I do," Dani said coyly. "Don't you?"

He cleared his throat and straightened, "I guess, maybe. If she's…." he stammered.

Her grin gave her away; she ducked her head to hide it.

"You're fucking with me aren't you?" he exhaled relaxing a bit.

"Yeah, I'm fucking with you Crews," she walked closer and removed the papers from his lap. "But how come you never mentioned how attractive she is? Huh?" she purred as she climbed onto him and gently removed his reading glasses.

"She's not attractive to me. She's not my type," he murmured and shifted to accommodate her fully.

"You've got a type?" she teased.

"Uh-huh," he nodded eagerly and reached to kiss her waiting lips. "You," he promised as his lips closed over hers. She believed him not because of the words, but because of the way he made her feel. Adored, revered and never once not the center of his life.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hot Dog – Chapter 5**

"Baby, please eat your breakfast," Dani pled with her son.

His tiny blond brow knitted, his arms crossed and he frowned furiously. "Not baby," he pouted.

Charlie nearly shot coffee through his nose as he laughed.

Dani's glare mirrored her son's.

"Don't look at me…" Charlie choked out still smiling, "that stubborn streak…he gets that from you."

"You could be more…helpful," she pointedly reminded her partner, hands on her hips in that pushy demanding tone he secretly adored.

He made a big play of the inconvenience, approached his son, bent over and whispered a few words to his tiny mirror. The boy's face brightened and he eagerly began to consume his breakfast without further ado.

Dani watched in awe, then turned skeptical, "you bribed him."

"Yep," he leaned in and planted a kiss intended for her pouting lips on her turned cheek.

Her hand planted firmly in his chest she pushed back until she could look her husband in his sparkling blue eyes, "what did you promise him?"

"That we'd take Max," he smiled knowing she'd be angry, but she'd acquiesce.

Secretly, there was very little Dani would not give in to when it came to them; the two men in her life (older and younger) pretty much knew this but they used it rarely. She sighed heavily and Sam exchanged a knowing look with his father.

"It's not fair when you two do that," she grumbled.

"I know, baby," he apologized and gathered her to his chest.

"Not baby," Sam pronounced again, pointing with his spoon. "Mommy," this time everyone laughed but Sam who was quite serious.

* * *

><p>They were having a terse discussion in whispers. Despite the addition of furnishings, the large house carried voices down the long marble hallways and neither wished to waking their sleeping son.<p>

"No," Charlie hissed.

"Look," Dani began more solidly and patiently, her voice low but insistent. "He'll talk to me," she urged. "He won't talk to you."

"And Sam?" he questioned.

"Stays here with you," she vowed.

His brow was knitted and features stern, storm clouds of pewter gray obscured his normally pale blue eyes. His face and eyes still said "no" loudly, though he remained mute.

"Tell me another way to find out what we want to know," she countered.

Charlie's arms folded and his pursed lips reminded hers of Sam's from their morning disagreement over cereal. "Now who's stubborn?" she pointedly asked.

Charlie returned something akin to a glare of his own, but said nothing in reply.

"My mom will be there," she argued more softly.

"I don't like it," he admitted.

"I know," she rubbed his folded arms and slowly he opened to her. "It'll be fine. If it isn't I'll leave." Crews nodded his grudging assent against the top of her head as he collected her in his arms against his chest.

"Better be," he murmured into her hair. "I'd hate to have to kill your father," only part of him was joking.

* * *

><p>Dani and Roya were sitting around the Reese family kitchen table reviewing pictures of Sam on Dani's iPad, when Jack Reese strode through the door.<p>

"Who the hell's car is…" he sputtered to a stop. "Dani," his voice was softer than she recalled. He'd aged ten years in the past two. Gone was the white haired but still strong retired SWAT Commander; her father had gotten old, seemingly overnight.

"Dad," she greeted him neutrally and did not stand.

There was a long awkward moment in which no one said anything and then Roya reached for peace. "Come, Jack. Look at the pictures of Samuel."

To her great surprise, Jack did just as his wife asked. He pulled reading glasses from his pocket and bent close to see the grinning face of his grandson. Dani realized the smell of scotch she'd long associated with her father was absent. Roya who had long since mastered the two finger swipe and was rapidly going through dozens of photos Dani kept on the little device of her son. It was a gift from Charlie, last Mother's Day it was an easy way to show off her son to her mother during visits without having to email every picture they took.

"He's grown so much," Roya marveled.

"Yeah," Dani laughed, "between him, Charlie and Max they could devour half the planet."

"Who's Max?" Jack asked. There was no anger or resentment in his voice, just curiosity.

"The dog," Dani answered plainly. She pointed at a picture of her in the pool with Sam and Max barking alongside while they splashed.

"Oh, " he broke contact with her eyes and returned to the photos. "Thought you'd had another kid," he hinted without looking up.

"Not yet," she replied without thinking.

This time her mother stopped flipping and looked at her, "will you Dani?"

Now embarrassment set in, "I dunno, maybe, I guess, yeah." Roya beamed and touched her daughter on the arm.

"Perhaps a little girl," she hinted.

Dani just hung her head and wanted to forget she'd opened that door. She nodded dutifully and Roya's smile broadened further. Dani risked a glance at her father and noticed he was appraising her, examining her. He hadn't seen her in nearly three years except in photos. She was suddenly self-conscious. The baby weight from Sam still rested in her middle, not much, maybe ten pounds, but she felt it all right at that moment.

There was a moment. A look between father and daughter that made both know things had changed – for both of them. Then Jack Reese took the unprecedented step of commenting, "hope the girl looks like you." He didn't smile, but the comment was nearly a compliment and something she hadn't experienced from her father for twenty years.

Her head cocked to the side and he knew she was thinking about what he'd said trying to find a way it was meant to hurt her. He stumbled to correct any misgivings she might have. "I only meant that the boy looks like his father. It would be nice if my granddaughter looked like you. Don't you think honey?" Jack tried to get some help from his wife.

Roya nodded, but stayed silent.

"I should go," Dani said as the awkwardness descended once again.

"Stay," her mother implored. "I'll make tea."

"I can go," her father offered.

"No," Dani said, "I need to get back. I've been gone almost two hours. Crews will have bought him a pony or a race car, by the time I get home," she laughed.

"I'll walk you out," Jack offered.

Halfway to the car, he called her on the reason for the visit, "why'd you come here Dani?"

She turned and faced him. "I wanted to know if you'd changed. If you could change."

"And did I?"

"I don't know," she offered honestly, "I hope so. I want to believe you have."

"Does that mean you'll let me see him?"

"Who?"

Anger flashed across his eyes and then it was gone so fast she thought she'd imagined it. He blinked and qualified, "my grandson, Dani. I want to meet him."

She considered him a long moment, thoughtfully. "Dad I need to know you're done with these people; the people who hurt Crews. Can you tell me that you've done that?"

"What do you want? A show of faith?"

She nodded. His face remained open and then she asked, "Sampson and Reedy?"

"Dirty as they come," he replied. "Recruited me and others. Still work for Rayborn I think. What else? I'm willing to pass whatever test you have for me, Dani."

"Why now?"

"I'm an old man and I'm not getting any younger. That boy? Sam. He's my flesh and blood. I want to know him and I want him to know me," he laid himself bare.

"And Crews?" Dani tempted fate.

Jack ran a hand through his still white, but thinning hair, "Jesus, Dani. I don't know. Does he still want me in jail? Or under it?"

Dani paused and considered her reply. Charlie had precious little Zen when it came to her father or his. "He's…I'll talk to him," she settled for reaching for the door handle of the Maserati.

"Kid?" her father beckoned drawing her eyes back to him. "Why do you still call him Crews?"

"You know…I don't know," she grinned. "I just do."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hot Dog – Chapter 6**

She came home and the house was empty. She could hear barking and splashing and knew Charlie had taken Sam swimming. It must have been 90 degrees out and she wondered if they'd remembered sunscreen. Absently she realized she'd become far more the doting mother than she'd ever intended – she worried about both the men in her life. She stood in the shadows of the house watching them through the large French doors that opened onto the stone patio. Charlie was sunk to his mid chest in the sparkling blue water. Sam, in orange water wings, swung his arms mightily 'swimming' his way to his father who stood no more than 24 inches away watching carefully.

The splashing created a ruckus punctuated by mad barking from Sam's shadow, which while he wouldn't swim, paced the edge of the pool anxious with worry. More than once she watched Charlie speak in a low but menacing tone to the little dog about barking in his ear. Max's ears laid back and he looked mildly repentant for about 30 seconds before he barked again – but more subdued.

This was her family. Two red-haired boys and a black and white dog and she loved them. She loved her life and she was contemplating letting her father back into this cloistered circle of happiness. Her father was a man that while she remembered him smiling once - it was so long ago - she wasn't sure if she just imagined it. She didn't remember a time when his smile wasn't a sinister smirk and he wasn't enjoying pleasure at someone else's pain or discomfort.

Conversely, her husband and son both wore sincere smiles on most days, even when they slept. She thought about joining them on the deck, but noticed the SPF 45 sun block on the counter and the greasy smudges on the window glass and concluded they were both lathered up and enjoying themselves. She retreated to the cool, quiet of the house to ponder her dilemma – one she and Charlie would discuss later – at length.

Tired from the emotion and stress of the day, she retreated to the bedroom she shared with Charlie. Even this far removed she could still register the muted barking and happy shrieks of her son. Only Charlie was silent to her – Crews was quiet – she smiled – that had to be a first. It was her last thought before a yawn signaled an unpredicted nap and her eyes fluttered closed and all sounds faded.

* * *

><p>Charlie took a tired little boy with wet hair and dressed him in a dry t-shirt and sleep pants before putting him down for a nap. He had to read about seven pages of a story before Sam succumbed to the sandman's charms and rolled away from him sleeping soundly. Max sighed heavily at the peace and quiet, barking being such hard work. The little dog was tuckered out too. Charlie quietly shut the door to his son's room and sought out his wife.<p>

He knew she'd been home awhile and that her talk with her father had caused her either pain or contemplation because when she returned home she sought isolation rather than to come outside and play. He respected her need for space and her desire to process data separately, but they were a team and they were best when together.

He found her asleep on their bed looking very much like a fairy princess. Her hands folded over her stomach and a hint of a smile on her face. That had changed in the past few years. The Dani Reese he met five years ago did not wear a smile – ever -and certainly not while she slept. She was haunted back then. Things from her past pulled on her like a millstone round her neck. She swam alone in dark waters and dangerous currents; they both did. Both were trapped in their pasts, by their pasts and only by moving forward together had they found happiness and peace.

Now she was so very different, they both were; stronger together than either was alone. More complete and yet still the same in so many ways. She was still stubborn and tended toward sullen. He could be aloof and detached, but never from her and never for long. She pushed and he dug in, but she could wring vows from him with just a look; ones that no one else could under threat of death. He watched over a woman who shunned protection and she tolerated his protective streak.

He laid his long body next to hers to observe her deep peaceful sleep. He was cautious moving very slightly, hoping she'd remain undisturbed. Despite his caution, however, she sensed his presence. Whether it was from the slight pressure on their bed, the smell of pool water and sunscreen that clung to him or the warmth of his body, she knew on some level he was there. He folded her into his arms and pressed a kiss against her temple.

"You okay?" his low tone asked quietly.

Her mumbled reply contained an affirmation that she was and question that contained the words "baby" and "sun block." The rest was entirely unintelligible.

Twice in one day she'd referred to Sam as a baby, something she hadn't done in months; a characterization Sam vigorously protested. Charlie hoped her slips were because that topic was on her mind of late and they would soon welcome a daughter into their family. His curiosity got the better of him as he tried to coax something in the form of confirmation from his tired mate.

"Honey?" he questioned. "You know Sam isn't a baby anymore," a gentle chiding tone preceded his query. She grumbled something in reply that also wasn't understandable.

He chuckled and the movement stirred his wife from her near sleep state. She turned in his arms and sleepiness lay in her eyes. She blinked, yawned and stretched.

"Did you…" she began.

"Put him down for his nap?" he finished.

She nodded sheepishly.

"It's just you and me and the baby for a couple hours," he hinted.

She cast a quizzical look at him. "Did you talk to my mom?"

"Uh-uh," he answered and kissed her forehead. "It's just the last time you were tired like this in the middle of the day was when we got pregnant with Sam."

She buried her head against his chest to suppress the grin she bore at the way he chose to couch his words "we got pregnant." He was so inclusive about their family and his contribution. It struck her as mildly funny, but Charlie was quite earnest about it.

He leaned down to whisper his question in her ear, since his oblique references were getting him nowhere. "Honey, are we having another baby?"

"I dunno," she answered honestly. "It's possible," she offered as he looked disappointed, "maybe, I guess, probably…yes," she settled on.

His eyebrows showed his question and her eye roll was something of a trademark.

"Crews," she addressed him eyeing him skeptically, "I told you that we were dangerous together," she warned.

"You are under the mistaken impression that I think having more kids would be a problem," he advised. "I'd like a houseful of them," her dark scowl stopped him cold, but after a beat he continued, "I think a little sister could be good for Sam."

"Good for Sam," she repeated sarcasm lacing her comments letting him know she didn't buy his argument.

"Okay," he relented, "I'd like it if we had a little girl. There I said it."

She stared long and hard at him, her expression entirely neutral and then she surprised him. "You really have let go of it haven't you?"

"What?" he wondered.

"The past," she said knowingly. He didn't follow and his look told her so. She explained patiently, another talent she hadn't mastered before Charlie Crews came into her life, "you didn't ask me about my father."

"This," he intimated with a back and forth finger between them, "we... are more important than that." A moment passed and he brushed his hand down her cheekbone. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Later," she said kissing him softly. "Much later," she pulled him to her and he got the message.

* * *

><p>A little strawberry blonde head appeared at her bedside and a wagging tail beat rhythmically against the mattress. Crews was still out cold from their lovemaking, but the mom in Dani was always listening for sounds that meant trouble from her son of his shadow.<p>

"What is it baby?"

Sam scowled fiercely.

She rephrased, "Sam is something wrong?"

His little head shook back and forth. It was unlike him to be this quiet for this long. "Sam?" she drew his name out into a question, "come 're." She helped him onto the bed and drew the sheet over her front before sitting him in her lap. "What is it honey?"

He bit his bottom lip and then looked up at her with tears in his little eyes. "You want a new baby Mommy?" he wondered. "I'm too big now," he explained while Dani sat stunned into silence.

"Shhh, no," she consoled him softly. "You are my baby. You'll always be my baby. Even when you're as big as Daddy, you're still my little boy Sam. I don't want a new baby," she told him.

He sniffled slightly and lay still in her arms like he did when he was an infant.

"Sam," she continued trying to reason with him about something that was a true possibility. She wasn't convinced you could reason with a three year old, but she tried. "When we go to the park Casey has a little sister, Sarah right?"

"Uh-huh," he answered sounding so much like his father.

"Wouldn't you like a little sister some day? Someone to play with?"

"Uh-uh," he said firmly. "Don't want one. Just Max." The dog upon hearing his name was certain that meant he was invited and leapt onto the bed.

"Just the hot dog huh?" Dani confirmed smiling.

"Yep," her son's little pink lips curled into a smile.

"Okay, baby," she rocked him gently against her, "okay." This time Sam didn't object to her characterization. Max lay next to his tiny master and his tail beat against Dani's leg as she recited a poem in Farsi that lulled her son back to sleep.

Her heavy sigh signaled her relief that conversation was over and Charlie shifted and blinked his eyes open. "Chicken," she announced knowing he'd been awake the whole time. "You coulda helped me out," she whispered at him.

"Naw," he stretched, "you did fine." He sat up slowly and twisted until his neck and back popped. "Want me to take him back to bed?"

Dani shook her head. "Charlie, what if we do have another baby? Sam is going to take some convincing. He'll feel left out."

"Let me handle that," he leaned in and kissed her. "How'd it go with your dad?" His question held concern, but no hate. He was good at that – pretending. But she knew the depth of this distaste for her father.

She chewed the side of her lips and wondered aloud in answer, "do you think it's possible for people to change?"

"I think anything is possible," he said neutrally.

Her brow raised in skepticism at his noncommittal answer.

He sighed and waded into the swamp of the past she intended to slog through. "The question is really do you believe he has," he offered.

"I want to," she agreed to what he already knew. For all her disillusionment in people, Dani still wanted to believe the people she loved could change and as much as she hated the things he'd done – she still loved her father on some level and she always would hope that he could be different.

"It's dangerous," he countered. "Hope," he supplied in answer to her unspoken question.

"Hope can be as hollow as fear," he explained. "Both are reactions that rely on something that might happen – that future I don't believe in," he smiled softly.

"He says he's willing to answer any questions, pass any test," she relayed.

"In exchange for?"

"He wants to meet Sam," she divulged shyly looking down and stroking her son's reddish blonde hair.

Empty air greeted her.

She knew better than to look up. His eyes would be storm clouds and his countenance fierce. She gave him a moment to work through his reaction, which she knew would be an immediate and resounding no. Then she cleared her throat and asked, "Would you allow that?"

"Would you?" his tone was low and dangerous.

"I think I might," she boldly stated, "under the right conditions."

"I would have to be there," he spoke his demand coolly.

"And you'd be civil," she countered with a demand of her own.

He nodded curtly once. He'd do it, but he wouldn't like it. They were in agreement but neither was convinced their decision was a good one or the right one. She wasn't big at sharing, but something about her interaction with her father clung to her.

"He's gotten old, Charlie. Almost overnight, he seems frail and my father has never even seemed mortal or human to me. He's always been…"

"Larger than life…" he offered.

"Maybe…" she couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed, but she knew in her soul that something profound had.

They sat still and quiet for a few moments, even Max. Then Charlie told her something he'd never shared before. "Do you know the first time I imagined us together? The first time I couldn't just chalk it up to you being an attractive woman and me being fresh out of prison?"

She shook her head no, perplexed and curious beyond words.

"It was that case with those two kids who lived in the mall; the day after Thanksgiving. Ted fixed some kind of a bird and it was just the two of us in this great big house. Your father had just left and you said your mom got drunk and cried. I didn't want that to be our lives. I wanted to be with you then more than ever before and that day it had nothing to do with you being so beautiful."

"That why you bought me underwear?" she grinned at him.

"I never said those were for you," he played coy.

"But they were…weren't they?"

"Uh-uh," he seemed a little embarrassed. "Almost everything I bought that day was for you," he confessed recalling the sunglasses, the facial cleanser and other things that all ended up anonymously with his partner, including a certain set of lavender lace panties.

"Except the Learn to Speak Dutch thing – that was for me," he smiled.

"What a relief," she joked.

"Why'd you help Tidwell ask me out?"

He sighed heavily, "he seemed nice, harmless, well intentioned, good for you – in ways I never could be."

"For the record, I like things that aren't good for me," she advised, "always have."

"Yes, I know," he kissed her lingering to inhale her scent.

"He was nice, but he wasn't right for me," she told her husband. "He wasn't you," she confirmed her interest had been in him for longer than she wanted to admit. "I don't regret it, just that it kept me from seeing what was right in front of me all along."

"I guess we can all be wrong. We can all miss what's staring us in the face. Even well intentioned we can still be wrong," Charlie said thoughtfully. "If you look at something in a different light, it can be completely different. We've changed haven't we?"

She nodded knowing he was right. They had both changed, not drastically, but subtly and for the better.

"Guess we should give your dad a chance," he sighed seeming to at least accept the concept, but his trepidation remained. He had to remind himself, his fear was as hollow and unrealistic as Dani's hope. Neither had any power unless they gave it.

"You still don't trust him," she observed.

"True, but I do trust you," he confirmed, "and now I'm gonna take a shower. Get all this pool chlorine, sweat and sunscreen off me."

As he sauntered naked to the bathroom, she began snickering.

He turned and arched an eyebrow toying with her, "you used to dig my ass."

"Still do, but look at your back," she pointed at the full-length mirror on the wall.

It was bright red except for a few streaks of white skin where Sam's small hand managed to reach with the sun block. His back looked like a child's finger painting in red and white. "Crap," he commented. "Last time I let the kid do my back."

"You're gonna be beet red tomorrow, blister and peel." Dani commented. "When will you learn to wear a shirt?"

Charlie's eye roll was one she recognized. She should – he learned it from her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hot Dog Chapter 7**

He sat stiffly on the park bench….waiting. It had been weeks... at first and now nearly two months of lengthy, painful and serious questions from both Dani and Crews. He'd detailed all the dirt he knew for them. He regaled them with the part of things he knew. It was a lot, but in the end - it really wasn't much. It was a tiny ripple on the surface of the vast dark lake of police corruption that consumed large portions of the LAPD and had since the 50's. It didn't solve the bigger problem. In point of fact it didn't solve any problems, nor the conundrum of who framed Crews for murder or why.

Yes, his informant had gone berserk and killed the girl's entire family and when Kyle Hollis called him freaking out – Jack had gone to the scene and he'd helped hide Rachel. No, he didn't know why Hollis was supposed to "lean on Tom Seybolt" or why he'd gone to the house – only that a small girl with dark hair who reminded him of Dani was left alone in a blood filled home in just her pajamas.

In the end his daughter and her husband decided they couldn't effect any change and moreover they shouldn't try. Crews made some cryptic comments about "everything that happens being right" – which elicited first a wry grin, then a knowing look from his daughter and she accepted that there were things they could not change and let it go. They both did.

So much had changed…including him. His Dani – the one of a few years ago - would have kept beating her hands against the brick wall until her knuckles were bloody rather than accept anything. She was now granite or marble or maybe something infinitely stronger; wrongs cascaded off her surface like so many raindrops.

And Crews? The Charlie Crews he knew – the one he'd met after the man was released from prison was relentless and driven, but that man was now tempered steel, sleek and polished – strong, but deceptively smooth. The fierceness in both was now focused somewhere else – they'd changed and no one was more surprised by it than him.

"Change," Crews had remarked, "was the only constant in life." Jack always assumed situations changed, but people didn't. He no longer held this illusion. Everything was changing all the time. It was still a tough lesson for him to learn this late in life.

Sitting on that park bench, Jack Reese was about as nervous as he could recall ever being. His palms were sweaty as he rubbed his hands on his pants and glanced anxiously at the parking lot for the 300th time in the past half an hour. The last time he'd been this nervous was sitting in a polished corridor waiting for his oral board – for the Sergeant's exam.

That was thirty years ago and yet, meeting his grandson and making a good first impression was somehow more important. He'd thought about buying the boy something, but quickly dismissed the idea knowing the child of Charlie Crews would want for nothing. Instead what he brought was a picture of Dani as a child. It rested in the pocket of his jacket against his heart.

The rumble of the sleek black car preceded it's arrival as Crews pulled it to the curb in the shade of a giant oak tree. It looked like a shadow against the green of the grass or a hole no one could fill – one like Jack felt in his heart when Dani left his life. It took losing her to make him realize how much she meant to him. His penance was made for nearly three years and he was weary of so much time on his knees. He was also humbled and even his wife remarked how much he'd learned from the little boy he'd never met – until now.

The car door swung open and a medium sized black and white dog bounded from the car and began prancing anxiously in the background as Dani climbed out and reached in the back to take Sam out of his car seat. Crews stood watch, behind sienna shaded sunglasses, every watchful and observant he noticed Jack immediately and nodded curtly. The laughter of his son brought a twisted grin to Crews' face and he disconnected from scanning the park to briefly look at his family.

Dani turned holding a boy with golden hair tending toward his father's red, which shone in the sun. He was laughing loudly and squirming to get down and play. Dani brushed a lock of hair from his forehead and spoke to him directly. The boy turned in her arms and examined his mother before hugging her tightly and sliding down to the ground.

Once on the ground, the boy was herded and nudged by the dog toward the wide expanse of green grass and beyond that the distant and unoccupied swing set and jungle gym in a sandy spot. Dani kept pace with her son and Crews followed catching them easily and weaving his hand into hers. They seemed in no great hurry to reach him; letting Sam and Max dawdle and play as they approached. It took what seemed another ten minutes to reach him – when in point of fact it was closer to five.

Jack realized he was holding his breath and forced himself to exhale strongly. He clinched and released his hands and felt the tenseness in himself ease slightly. He stood and prepared to greet them. Sam stopped and stared at him. Jack was left with the impression of his grandson's eyes, which while a vibrant blue like his father's - also held the intensity, focus and scrutiny of his mother. Jack watched the boy approach. He found himself noticing more of Dani in Sam, things the photos didn't show; his mannerisms and affect were most like Dani's were as a child. He saw her there; were before he'd only seen the hair and eyes of Charlie Crews. A hint of smile crossed his face and Sam's wistful grin was returned to him. The little dog came to his side and licked the boy's face and the moment was gone.

"What are you thinking?" she asked her partner, as she'd done for years.

"He looks the same," Charlie replied neutrally.

"Just because something has always been; does not mean it will always be," she told him. Charlie twisted his head and shot her an odd, quizzical look.

"Is that Zen?" A smile played lightly across his features. Things had indeed changed if Dani was quoting Zen.

"It might be," she was coy on purpose.

"How should we do this?" she asked. Now that they were there – in that long awaited moment – she wondered if there should have been more planning, more preparation.

"I don't think we need to do anything," Charlie countered. He paused a moment then added, "I think we just let them – be." She nodded her consent and Charlie swept his hand in invitation to his arch enemy and father-in-law.

"He looks nervous," Dani commented as her father once again wiped his palms on his trousers. 'That's a first, never seen him nervous," she filled in the empty space.

"Think he knows I left my gun at home?" Crews joked darkly.

She canted her head and looked up at him, ringed by the sun his red hair shining, "bet you still got that knife don't ya?"

He was caught and she knew it and his eye roll declared his contempt for being so predictable. "I hardly use that anymore, except for fruit," he commented, "you're never gonna let that go are you?"

"No," she laughed and squeezed his hand.

Jack bent down to pick up a stick for Max, whistled and when both Sam and Max looked up, tossed it. Max leapt after the tossed stick, retrieving it easily and prancing back to Sam with his prize. The boy and dog tugged on the stick until a thick, wizened hand reached down and took it from them both. Jack threw the stick again and Max predictably raced after it, but this time circled widely and did not return the stick.

"I'm Jack," he introduced himself. "You're Sam right?"

Sam stood his ground, did not speak, but didn't back away or show any fear. He possessed both the confidence of his father and the poise of his mother.

"Can I show you something?" Jack reached into his coat pocket and Dani felt Crews tense beside her.

"Easy," she urged and his grip on her hand eased.

Jack showed a tiny wallet sized photo to Sam, who leaned close and examined it.

"Who's that?" Sam inquired with unmasked curiosity.

"My baby girl," Jack told him honestly.

"Where is she?" Sam asked curious and now invested.

"There," Jack pointed at Dani and Crews.

"Behind Mommy?" Sam wondered craning his neck to see.

"No," Jack chuckled. "This is a picture of your mommy when she was little – when she was your age." Sam found this funny and laughed – his small voice pealing like a bell across the park.

"He made him laugh in under three minutes," Dani noted. Charlie said nothing.

Max was back now, weaving between Jack and Sam with his prized stick and no one was paying him much attention.

"It's true," Jack repeated and Sam stopped laughing and examined the picture carefully. Sam every bit his mother was now focused on the puzzle before him. _How could the little girl in the photo be his mother? _He looked from the picture to Dani and back – his little brain connecting the dots and thinking about the possibilities.

"Whatcha got there buddy?" Charlie asked his son as they drew nearer.

"Look," Sam showed the photo. Charlie reached down to retrieve his son and the photo, lifting Sam into his arms and holding him at his waist. They both examined the photo closely.

"Hmmh," Charlie noncommittally commented – a response without responding.

"Is this Mommy?" Sam questioned his father.

"I believe it is," Charlie could not lie to his son.

"Hiya kid," Jack greeted Dani and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"Sam," she called catching both her boys' attention, "this is my father, Jack."

"I'm your grandpa," Jack added meekly.

Sam looked hard at Jack and then back at his mother and turned to his father skeptically appraising the sudden appearance of a grandfather. "Is he?"

"He is," Charlie answered neutrally careful not to let his dislike and distaste for the man show.

Sam squirmed and demanded down, so Charlie set him on the ground and Sam approached Jack who crouched to the boy's level and stuck out his hand.

But handshakes really weren't Sam's style, so he flung his arms around the elder Reese's neck and hugged him – as hard as he could muster. After a moment of shock, Jack's arms went round the boy and he stood lifting him. Jack blinked back tears and Dani led Charlie a short distance away to give him a moment.

"I want you to kiss me," she spoke softly to him.

"You want me to…" he clarified looking deeply at her, but her patience with his mental speed was over and she helped him understand by twisting her hands in his shirt front and pulling him down to her. The rest of his question he swallowed, as his body eagerly caught up with her, while his mind remained in neutral.

She kissed him with ferocity not appropriate for city parks in broad daylight with their three old son watching. They burned white hot and then just as suddenly she became so tender he thought she might cry. As they broke, she whispered, "I love you," across his lips still wet from their kiss. He nodded mutely resting his forehead against hers.

"Tell me what you want," he asked patiently.

"For us to never be this far from Sam," she spoke plainly but with great emotion. "That no matter what he does, no matter what happens, we won't…" she couldn't finish, but he understood. He folded her into his arms and rocked her quietly against his chest.

Jack approached still holding Sam who wriggled to get down and stomped his feet in anger.

"Did you make Mommy cry?" he questioned fiercely.

"No," Charlie vowed, "no, I did not."

Sam hit him anyway; his little fists flew into Charlie's leg as the boy pummeled him for all he was worth. Charlie released Dani and grabbed his son by both his tiny fists. "Samuel Ethan Crews," he chided. "I would never make your mother cry. I love her more than anything in the world. Stop."

Sam examined his father closely and found no lie in what he said. He looked at his mother and asked her, "Mommy why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad, baby," she laughed and wiped the tears from her face.

Sam seemed unconvinced. He crooked his little finger and brought Jack to his level and then took the photo of Dani as a child from Jack's pocket.

"Can we have a baby like this?" he asked his mother.

No one was more shocked than Dani, but she nodded and wrapped her arms around her middle. Sam content with his problem settled headed toward the slide, beckoning Jack with his hand and voice, "watch me, Grampa."

Charlie's shadow covered his wife's small frame and his arms enveloped her. "You okay?" his voice was low in her ear. She nodded again not trusting her voice.

"Mommy, look," Sam demanded as Jack waited at the foot of the slide for his grandson. She waved and sighed.

"That went about as well as it could," she commented.

"You're not the one who got kicked in the shin and bashed in the knee," Charlie joked.

"He's a little protective," she murmured, "like someone else I know."

"It seems all the Crews men are devoted to keeping you happy, not just me. I pity the kid who picks on Sam's little sister," Charlie foretold of things to come.

"I think I'm pregnant Charlie," she confessed what he already knew.

"I know you are, I've been watching you for weeks," he rocked her against his chest. "I don't know why you wait so long to accept what's right in front of you."

"Habit," she replied presciently.

There was a long moment of silence before she asked him what was on her mind.

"So how long you been working on Sam about a baby sister?"

He shrugged and sighed, "couple weeks."

"What you'd have to promise him?"

"That he could pick her name," Charlie deadpanned.

Dani turned in his arms and questioned him seriously, "and the leading suggestions are what? Max?"

"Roger, Sandy and…" he laughed "strangely enough Max."

Dani rolled her eyes, "great, that's just great Crews."

"Now hold on, I've been thinking," he paused and tucked his tongue in his cheek as his "thinking" comment solicited another eye roll from his wife.

"What about Mackenzie? That's nice and we could call her Mac…or Kenzie?"

Dani said nothing but did not look pleased.

"We've got months, we'll find something better, something you like better, I promise," he vowed. This seemed to appease her. She eased and he slipped his hand into hers and then began walking towards a laughing Sam and smiling Jack Reese.

"We can name the next one Mackenzie," Charlie commented.

Dani stared hard at him.

"What you think I'm gonna let that great big house go to waste?"

She elbowed him hard and laughed as he jumped.

"Hey, you know I'm not a punching bag for you or Sam," he teased.

They arrived just in time to hear Jack offer to buy Sam a hot dog and Sam flatly refuse asserting he already had one. Dani, Charlie and Sam all looked at Max and Jack just looked lost. "I'm missing something," the elder Reese noted.

"You've got some catching up to do," Dani smiled at him.

Jack nodded and looked at Charlie - a look between the two men passed. They seemed to accept they had both lost something profound and it changed them and the way they viewed their lives. Now they found that missing something again and it was something, someone they shared. Both men seemed to realize the symmetry and without a word being spoken an uneasy truce settled in the green of the park that sunny day.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note: **__Yeah…I just couldn't let this go …happy endings being so illusive I just wasn't ready for this adventure to be over yet. So here's the epilogue and jumping off point for a new story… For as many redemptive tales – there are also unrepentant sinners and the fruits of their labors._

* * *

><p><strong>Hot Dog Chapter Eight - Epilogue<strong>

Dani marshaled Sam off to the public restroom after too much chocolate ice cream ended up on him instead of in him. Jack and Charlie circled each other like old wolves. Each man's hands were hidden, Jack's in his tan Member's Only jacket pockets and Charlie's jammed deep into his jeans.

Each was trying to protect their truce in their own way.

Over the preceding weeks, Crews observed Jack Reese carefully looking for signs of deceit, but what he found instead were signs of weakness, not mere age. His skin seemed stretch and thin, his complexion sallow and pale and his hair thin and brittle.

"How sick are you?" he opened strongly.

Reese eyed his suspiciously, then chuckled, "Can't fool you can I Crews?"

"No," Crews bit back a nasty retort and held his anger on a short leash. He'd do this for Dani, but trust was not something he'd ever extend to Jack Reese. "She believes you because she wants to…"

"But not you…" Reese smiled and it was an evil grin, "never you."

Crews' eyes were hard and focused. His hands were no longer hidden and he balanced on the balls of his feet ready for anything. "How long do you have?" He tried to sound neutral, but there was nothing neutral in him when it came to Jack. Only his love for Dani balanced the hate buried deep within him.

"Weeks, months at the outside," Reese admitted. "Cancer – AND - neither Dani nor her mother can know," he demanded of a man who owed him nothing.

Charlie nodded curtly. "Why come back now? Why put them through this? Losing you…it will only bring them pain."

"People don't change that much Crews," Reese said sounding annoyed. "I'm selfish. I wanted to see my daughter again, to know my grandson."

Crews tight smile said everything. He knew that Reese wouldn't change, just as he knew Dani wanted to believe badly enough to buy her old man's ploy. "Telling her won't change things," he was cool and very quiet, "I'll keep your secret because I would never consciously hurt her."

"I know son," Reese replied. "I misjudged you. You are good for her, good with her and I know you'll keep my family safe after I'm gone. That's why I'm gonna tell you something that won't help you, but it won't hurt you either."

At this Charlie cocked his head, like a dog hearing a strange noise.

"The same man that got you out of prison was the man who put you there," Reese said levelly and held Crews' eyes.

"Is that so?" Charlie couldn't help the contempt that crept into his voice. "And who would that be?"

"Mickey Rayborn," Jack replied.

Crews smiled. "My lawyer…" he began confidently.

"Was hired by Rayborn," Jack cut him off. He enjoyed watching pain blossom in Crews' eyes as the seeds of doubt he'd just seen took hold. Betrayal, yet another betrayal in the life of a man who'd suffered so many. Then Reese, fed the pain and fire he saw there in Crews' countenance. "Ask yourself – how'd she find you? Most skells who get a pro bono lawyer got themselves websites and support groups. What did you have? Nothing."

Crews eyes were a dark indefinable color as he considered what Reese was telling him. He did not speak, but his entire body was taut like a string. He was no longer thinking - he was well past that - he was reeling from emotions he sought to contain because he knew he could not control them.

"Now consider this…" Reese finished quickly and strongly as Dani came out of the far off restroom holding Sam by the hand. "Your lawyer? She goes from freeing LAPD's #1 bad guy, with $50 million buck of the city's money in his pocket and within months she is an ADA? Doesn't that strike you as odd? Seems like - I don't know…maybe a reward? A payoff? Rayborn owns her Crews and if you're not careful he's going to own you too."

Dani and Sam approached and both men fell silent. False smiles graced their faces and Charlie's eyes hid behind his shades lest Dani see the turmoil there. He kissed her on the cheek, held her close and announced they should be heading home. Plans were made for dinner at the Reese home the next weekend, but it all occurred in a distant far off place for Crews as he puzzled over what Reese told him.

It made sense, now that Connie denied hearing what Kyle Hollis confessed. It all made sense. Her job with the DA's office, her knowledge of and access to his case and how quickly all the mess with Roman had gone away. Being able to tip him off when LAPD was looking to search his house and trying to link him to Ames murder. But the "why" remain mysterious. _Why would Rayborn have him locked up in the first place and why free him all those years later?_

"Hey," Dani said softly, "Crews? You here?"

It was a familiar refrain, but one she hadn't had cause to use in a long time.

"Yeah," he gasped, "I'm here," reaching for a holding her hand. "Just thinking about baby names," he lied innocently.

"Hmm," she replied as she checked the rearview and found Sam passed out in his car seat from the afternoon's activities.

"Well, I can tell you this…no child of mine will be named after the dog," she laid down the law.

He switched gears quickly, "Mackenzie's not the dog's name," he argued.

"It's not a little girl's name either," she countered.

"Yes, Dani," he pointedly used her own name to illustrate the glaring flaw in her argument.

She scowled and objected, "you know I hate it when you do that."

"Yeah, I know," he apologized quickly and meant it, "I'll stop."

He waited a moment and offered food to his pregnant wife. "Hey, how about we swing by that place on Vine and get Chinese takeout?" He knew she'd eagerly agree, because they liked the place and it was a simple easy solution to dinner. Even Sam liked it when they got Chinese for the handful of fortune cookies they always provided with their meal.

"You know… I think I love you more for your great timing, than all that money," she grinned in agreement.

He breathed easy and his head began to work the conundrum Reese presented him with. A dying selfish man who hated him, told him an story that was easy to believe, but the best of lies is wrapped in a truth. During the next few months, he would welcome a new daughter, bury an old enemy and still be no closer to the truths he sought. A Zen saying echoed in the back of his mind - _believe those seeking the truth, doubt those who find it. _This was just beginning.


End file.
